Apple has released MacOS Ventura 13.6.1 and MacOS Monterey 12.7.1 for Mac users who have not yet updated to macOS Sonoma. The macOS software updates include security enhancements, and come alongside Safari 17.1 as well.

Separately, macOS Sonoma 14.1 has also been released, alongside iOS 17.1 update to iPhone, iPadOS 17.1 for iPad, iOS 16.7.2, iPadOS 16.7.2, iOS 15.8, iPadOS 15.8, tvOS 17.1, and watchOS 10.1.

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Apple has released a series of software updates for older model iPhone and iPad devices, that have either not yet updated to iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, or are not able to run those versions of system software. The updates include important security fixes, and are therefore recommended for all users to install, especially if you are not going to install iOS 17.1 or iPadOS 17.1 on the iPhone or iPad, respectively.

Specifically, iOS 16.7.2 and iPadOS 16.7.2 are available for iPhone 8 and later, all models of iPad Pro, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later.

Meanwhile, iOS 15.8 and iPadOS 15.8 are available for all models of iPhone 6s, all models of iPhone 7, iPhone SE 1st generation, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4th generation, and iPod touch 7th generation.

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Apple has released iOS 17.1 for iPhone, and iPadOS 17.1 for iPad, as the first major point release updates to the iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 system software versions.

iOS 17.1 and iPadOS 17.1 include bug fixes, security enhancements, as well as some new features, like the ability to continue AirDrop transfers over the internet when someone steps out of AirDrop range. Additionally, a problem where custom ringtones and text tones were not showing up on iPhone has been fixed, and there are more customization options for StandBy mode. Full release notes are included further below in this post.

Additionally, Apple has also released macOS Sonoma 14.1 for Mac, updates to watchOS and tvOS, and updates for earlier iOS, ipadOS, and macOS versions as well.

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Apple has released MacOS Sonoma 14.1 for Mac users running the Sonoma operating system. The software update includes a handful of bug fixes and security enhancements, but no significant new features are included. Full release notes are included below.

Separately, Apple has also released iOS 17.1 for iPhone, iPadOS 17.1 for iPad, updates to watchOS, tvOS, HomePodOS, and updates for earlier versions of iOS, iPadOS, and finally, macOS Ventura 13.6.1 and macOS Monterey 12.7.1

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Maccy is a really good free clipboard manager for the Mac, the type of software that is so good that you’re grateful it is available for free, in the classic spirit of computing and open source software. It’s fast, unobtrusive, allows for text and images, with a great set of features, and a simple to use interface, what’s not to like?

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Apple has announced a special event for the evening of October 30, titled “Scary Fast”. The event is widely assumed to be focused on the Mac, due to the event webpage having an Apple logo that morphs into the Finder icon, perhaps with refreshed updates to the iMac and MacBook line.

Obviously the name “Scary Fast” and the dark Apple logo and Finder iconography are plays on the season, and October 31 being Halloween.

October 30 is a Monday, which is a bit unusual for an Apple event, but the more curious aspect of the “Scary Fast” event scheduling is that it’s being held at 5PM PDT, rather than the typical morning timeline.

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New Mac users who are transitioning to the Apple ecosystem from the world of Windows PC’s may experience a mix of curiosity, excitement, and even confusion, as they get to know their new operating system. Fortunately, the Mac is not only exceptionally powerful, it’s also very easy to use, and quite intuitive.

For new Mac users, here are some essential tips and things to know to make your transition into the world of MacOS as smooth and productive as possible.

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Amazon continues to offer excellent deals on select iPad models, this time offering the M1 iPad Air 5th generation at $100 discount. Combine the M1 iPad Air with an also discounted iPad Magic Keyboard, and a discounted Apple Pencil, and you’ve got yourself a full fledged iPad setup, for far less than the retail price from Apple. What’s not to like about that? And if the iPad Air M1 is too much for your needs, Amazon continues to offer a whopper discount on the 9th gen iPad as well. Let’s check out the deals.

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Safari Technology Preview is an optional web browser for Mac that is separate from the regular Safari browser, with the Tech Preview offering an early look at upcoming web technologies and features before they become included in the primary Safari browser. In this way, Safari Tech Preview is kind of like Google’s Chrome Canary, and it’s worth a look for many users.

Many web developers and designers may benefit from checking out and using Safari Tech Preview on their Mac, but a lot of casual users may enjoy the experience as well. Plus, Safari Tech Preview can run alongside regular Safari, and has full iCloud feature access, so you’ll have access to all your bookmarks and favorites too.

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Steam is a very popular gaming platform, but one frustrating thing about browsing Steam on a Mac can be when you find a game you might like, go to check it out, and then discover it’s for Windows only. Why’d you see a Windows only game in the Steam Store when you’re using Steam on a Mac? Perhaps because Steam is cross-platform, supporting not only Mac, but also Windows and even Linux. Nonetheless, that can be a frustrating experience, but fortunately you can easily make Steam

You can change a setting to only display exclusively Mac games within Steam, and the Steam Store, and it makes using Steam a lot better for Mac gamers.

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A ton of open source software is available on Github, and many Mac applications are often available to download for free through the Github service as well. And if you read websites like this one and many others in the Apple and tech world, you’ll often find links to neat software projects on Github.

One common situation is for a Mac application to be available free on Github, but the Github web interface is not necessarily obvious or friendly to more casual Mac users. Oftentimes you’ll go to a Github project page and the file downloads shown are of things like “Projectname.xcodeproj”, “Blahblah.swift”, README.md, etc, which, if a casual user downloads, is of no use to them as they are certainly not built apps, and the average Mac user does not have Xcode nor want to install Xcode to compile and build those applications manually.

Thus, the obvious question is often asked; “how do I actually download a Mac application from Github?” and that’s what we’re going to answer here.

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Amazon continues to offer great deals on iPad 9th gen for just $249, and 10th gen models for $399, plus there are great deals on AirTags packs, the last gen Apple Watch Series 8, a popular Samsung monitor with many Mac users, deals on AirPods, and more. Check them out!

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We’ve all been there; you’re working away on your iPad with Magic Keyboard, and you knock over a cup of coffee, or a drink gets spilled, and the Magic Keyboard gets splashed or soaked in liquid. Uh oh! Now what? This recently happened to me, and I saved my iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard using the tricks I’ll discuss here.

If you spilled any liquid or drink on your iPad Magic Keyboard you certainly aren’t the first person to do this, and while it’s understandable to temporarily panic, thankfully these keyboards are fairly durable. Nonetheless, you’ll want to act fast to potentially prevent damage, and with some speedy action you might well be able to prevent any permanent liquid damage from impacting the Magic Keyboard and its trackpad.

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Amazon continues to offer some fantastic deals on Apple products, with some nice discounts on several popular models of the iPad lineup, Apple Watch Series 8, and a pack of four AirTags trackers. Check out the deals below!

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Forgetting or losing a password is a hassle, but assuming you save your logins and passwords with iCloud Keychain, that happens less and less. But you can still delete a password or login, whether intentionally or accidentally, and then end up needing access to that login information or password later.

Fortunately the Mac offers a great solution that makes it easy to recover any recently deleted passwords or logins, if you had previously saved them to iCloud Keychain. And Apple offers a solid grace period, you have up to 30 days to recover a deleted password! Let’s check out how to do this on a Mac.

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Do you wish you had the “Save As” keyboard shortcut back in MacOS Sonoma and MacOS Ventura? Wish no more, it’s easy to re-enable, even in the latest versions of MacOS system software and with the peculiar System Settings experience.

Many longtime Mac users adore the “Save As” keyboard shortcut, which had been accessed by hitting Command+Shift+S in just about any app since the early days of the Macintosh operating system. For whatever reason, Apple changed the Command+Shift+S keyboard shortcut to be the curious “Duplicate” saving option instead, which makes a copy of the existing file you’re trying to save in the current app. With a little keyboard shortcuts magic, you can regain the “Save As” keyboard shortcut in the latest versions of MacOS, and we’ll show you how to do that here.

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iOS 17.1 RC, iPadOS 17.1 RC, and MacOS Sonoma 14.1 RC, have been released by Apple and are now available for users involved in the beta testing programs for Apple system software. The RC (Release Candidate) build is initially available for developers, but the public beta version is soon followed.

While iOS 17.1, iPadOS 17.1, and MacOS Sonoma 14.1 may include a few small features, such as including the ability for AirDrop to continue file transfers over the internet, the releases also focus on resolving bugs and issues in the first releases of the new system software. For example, many iPhone users lamented how their custom ringtones disappeared from iOS 17, but that bug appears to be fixed in iOS 17.1 RC, and will be available to all users soon.

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The upgrade to MacOS Sonoma is well worth it for nearly all Mac users running macOS Ventura since it refines the operating system quite a bit, and could be a compelling upgrade for Mac users running Monterey and earlier versions too. With some great new features like desktop widgets, amazing new screen savers and wallpapers, Game Mode, Safari Profiles, and much more.

So, ready to take the plunge and install MacOS Sonoma on your Mac? Let’s walk through how to do exactly that.

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